Should I blame this on my Mobo or Video Drivers?

[Hopper]

Specs:

2500+ Barton @ 3200+ speed
Epox nForce2 8RDA (latest mobo drivers)
1 gig Geil pc3200 ddr running dual channel mode /6 3 3 2 timings
Gainward 5950 Ultra 256mb @ 500 core/990 mem (56.64 drivers)
Santa Cruz sound card
2 40gig ata100 HDs
XP Pro SP1... everything up to date DX9.1, etc...

This is really a mild annoyance. It happens when I'm playing Planetside, or some other comp-intensive game. I get weird graphics. I alt-tab out of whatever I'm playing, alt-tab back in and the graphics are back to normal... and it doesn't happen again the whole time I'm playing. Weird stuff. I attached an image of what it looks like when it happens.

Is this a driver problem? I'm sure it is not the card's fault, because it did it when I was running my crappy fx5600, and 52.16, 53.03 video drivers as well. The temp on the card is cool too.

My Aquamark score averages around 48,500 and 3dmark2003 is about the mid-6000's. The thing is, this "problem" never happens when I run these programs.

Thoughts/suggestions?

[Hopper]

Sorry about the double post, but I forgot to add the image I think.

[Hopper]

Crap, sorry again I wanted to attach a pic showing when everything goes back to normal.

[RedFury]

Might just be the way planetside deals with alt tabbing in and out of the game. Battlefield Vietnam and Battlefield 1942 don't give me my cursor when I goto the desktop, I have to ctl alt del to get it via the task manager in XP, and the windows key in win98. I sometimes get a really slow redraw of the desktop too, although that may be due to excessive use of system memory in the game(s).

[Hopper]

Fury, what I was trying to say was I'll be playing the game. Then the graphics turn "weird". Then I alt-tab out and alt-tab back in and everything is fine for the rest of the time I play. (lol, I hope I'm explaining this right)

I can't really explain it any better... the "problem" seems to happen when I'm about 5 to 10 minutes into the game. The alt-tab thing is my only solution to fix it.

[extreme_gamer]

ps has been having some visual errors lately. somebody sent a global message a week or so ago saying that PS had been updated and to close and reopen the game. well a few seconds after my graphics went all over the place, if i went anywhere besides concrete i feel into the abyss - and died. just wait a little bit for them to fix the errors.... my current drivers for my 5200 are 5.6.5.6. you might want to get them.

[Hopper]

gamer, this problem also happens in a few other games I play, I was using Planetside as one example.

The patch you were probably referring to was the Locker/CC weapons hotfix, but that didn't cause any problems for me personally.

[thronka]

Sounds like a video driver to me. Have you tried the newest ForceWare drivers? If so, are y9ou overclocked?